A Response for Emily
Not long ago, Emily asked me, “What made you decide to start a blogfolio in the first place?”
My teaching portfolio was largely an attempt to fill some work hours in a professionally meaningful manner. In my previous job, it wasn’t uncommon for some teachers to go for long periods of time without any teaching duties. This was my situation when I came across an advertisement for a teaching position with an American university in this country which requested that applicants submit a portfolio. I’d known about portfolios for a long time but this was first time that I’d actually seen one requested. Thinking that I might have been witnessing a new trend in the region and needing something purposeful to do with my time at the office, I put together an e-portfolio.
To be honest, the e-portfolio proved not to be all that useful. No one looked at it but me. I rarely looked at it. The reflection that I engaged in to compile it turned out to be mainly a one-off. It filled my time and I improved upon some technical savvy I had, but it really didn’t do all that much for me as an EFL teacher.
Then I started exploring blogs. A friend of mine who teaches mathematics in the US was blogging and some of my colleagues were experimenting with blogs in the classroom, so my curiosity was peaked. I started out with Blogger and as I was mucking about it occurred to me that the journal was what would make my portfolio useful. I converted my e-portfolio into a blogfolio and began to write reflectively.
The more I became involved in blog culture, I realized that the true utility of the blog was the reader comments. I needed an audience for my reflections. I needed fellow teacher-bloggers to give me their input so that I could reflect upon what they said and see if I could learn anything from them.
Originally, the e-portfolio was a way to fill my time preparing for a request from a potential employer that never came. The beginning of my blogfolio was an experiment. Now, reflective blogging is becoming a habit. I wish that more people would read and comment but I understand that most people are simply readers.
The time may come when I retire the blogfolio, but then again it may not.
3 Comments
Thanks for the explanation! I feel like I’m trying to do something similar (but in a slightly less intentional way, maybe). Writing posts forces me to think analytically about what I’m doing, whether it’s issues from class or just something I’ve read and am trying to make sense of.
The possibility of having other people comment on your writing/thoughts/ideas is a great perk of blogging. It’s interesting and provides new ideas, and it also can add some aspect of accountability – I’m more deliberate about what I’m doing if I know other people will be reading it.
good points!
accountability is a good word. you’re always welcome around here.
I’ve found that writing my blog has definitely reawakened my taste for trying out new ideas in the classroom. I agree with your point that the most important thing is having an audience. It really makes a difference knowing that your ideas are being read by others.
It is this sense of communicating to a wider audience that I want to impress upon my students.